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At Unity, we have a deep love and understanding for WordPress.
We love it so much that we've intentionally chosen to focus solely on WordPress.
In our eyes, we see it as the best website-building platform in the world! And we're not alone in this belief.
As of May 2021, WordPress holds a 41.2% market share among "the top 10 million most visited websites on the internet."
That number also includes some of today's heavy hitters in the web building space:
Squarespace. Drupal. Wix. Joomla.
Even with those notable brands - two of which advertise themselves as more beginner-friendly due to their "drag-and-drop" web building model - WordPress has an impressive hold on the market.
But these numbers alone are not why we've chosen to put "all of our eggs" in the WordPress basket, and there are some legitimate business reasons as to why we've gone this route.
(And no, it's not just because WordPress has an impressive market share.)
Alignment with our values
One thing we love about WordPress, and something we firmly believe in, is its open-source approach to its software. That means the original WordPress source code is both free and readily available for developers to use and tinker with.
WordPress empowers its users to create whatever they want (more on that later), and it's something we deeply resonate with.
We firmly believe in the "open source" approach and empowering our clients and audience, and we work to incorporate those values into our services and general interactions with everyone
When we work with clients, our goal is to not only provide them with a website that looks amazing. We also want to provide them with a website that's easy to use and edit.
When it comes to adding blog posts, creating new pages, updating site copy, or any other basic website need, we feel like our clients should be empowered to do these things when they want to…
…instead of waiting for us to do it for them.
It can get tedious and frustrating to ask a web developer to do things you feel like you can do yourself, especially if there is a cost involved with that request.
When we create websites, it's done so with the explicit purpose of making your website…your website.
As for our audience?
We're working to help take some of the "mystique" out of web development, design, and accessibility by sharing our expertise with our clients, fans, or random searchers who stumble on our website.
Yes, there are things that need to be done by trained professionals, but we also believe website owners have much more control over their websites than they might believe.
Our blog is littered with helpful content that's created for the purpose of empowering our audience, regardless of whether they're a client or not.
Although web development, design, and accessibility can be intimidating to learn and implement, we share what we know (we don't have any "secrets of the trade") in hopes that website owners gain greater confidence in their own abilities to manage their websites.
For us, we feel that's the best way to adopt the "open-source" approach WordPress is known for.
Accessibility focused
Unfortunately, accessible design is seen as "ugly" by some website owners and designers because they think it goes against what many people like to see on their website.
While many website owners want their websites to be "minimalist" and "lean," accessible design is viewed differently than that:
Limiting. Cumbersome. Clunky.
We disagree with those thoughts that "accessible design is ugly," regardless of what site builder you're using, and we only put our stake further into the ground when it comes to WordPress.
Arguably the biggest reason why we opted to focus on WordPress is because of accessibility.
In our eyes, WordPress is the ultimate site-building tool to create beautiful and fully accessible websites, and a lot of that has to do with its ability to blend design and accessibility seamlessly.
Because of its open-source code, WordPress allows developers and designers to not only customize websites for accessible practices but also do so in a way that's still beautiful for both the site owner and the users.
And if you're looking for an example of what a beautiful, accessible design can look like?
Check out The White House website, which has become one of the core examples of what accessible design and development can look like when done right.
Don't get us wrong, we feel that accessible design and development is possible on other website building platforms as well (we actually talk about the best WordPress alternatives in our blog), but we feel WordPress stands head-and-shoulders above everything else.
When you pair an already accessible platform like WordPress with accessible design (which is a lot more flexible than what people think), you can create something truly wonderful.
Absolute creative freedom
A common theme you've seen throughout this post so far is the emphasis on WordPress' open source code and how it empowers its users.
Although commonalities with our values and the ability to incorporate web-accessible practices are core reasons for making WordPress our site-builder of choice, there is one more reason why we've gone in this direction:
Full freedom on how you choose to design and develop your website.
WordPress has found the perfect balance between making its platform easy to use for beginners while not limiting seasoned professionals who want to take their development and designs further.
How a person chooses to use and create within WordPress is only limited by the creativity and vision of the developer and designers, and it's why we love it so much.
You are free to build your entire website with custom code, add in easy-to-use page builders (we use Beaver Builder), download one of thousands of different plugins, or create your own plugin!
The opportunities are endless, and it's why we love WordPress so much.
As web developers, it's empowering for us to feel that what we can achieve is only limited by imagination and creativity. Technology is always growing because of people's willingness to push past perceived limitations, and we feel that WordPress allows us that same opportunity.
To push past what's typically been done in an effort to create something better.
For us, that "something better" means being able to create a more inclusive internet through accessible websites.
Although we could go through a laundry list of why we think WordPress is so great, it can all be broken down to three simple things:
Culture, accessibility, and creativity.
As long as WordPress continues to support those three values, we're proud to continue our work as a WordPress design agency.
Unity + WordPress + You = ?
Are you a current WordPress website owner looking to revamp your website?
Or are you looking to make the switch to WordPress?
For all your WordPress needs, let Unity Web Agency be the solution for you.
We offer a customized WordPress website design and redesign service that can help your website better capture the mission, vision, and goals that'll resonate with your audience.
All while adhering to core web accessibility standards.
Reach out to our team and let's start a conversation around how we can help you create a beautiful and inclusive website experience through WordPress!